Monroe School Districts to Appeal "FAIR" Plan Ruling

By Bud Lowell

Rochester, NY – Monroe County's 24 public school districts will appeal a court ruling they say is going to cost them millions of dollars in county sales tax revenues.

The districts say they'll move as soon as possible to have the Appellate Division review yesterday's State Supreme Court ruling that upheld Monroe County's FAIR plan.

Jody Siegle is executive director of the Monroe County School Boards Association. She says judge Kenneth Fisher's ruling in favor of the plan goes against the history of the Morin-Ryan revenue sharing plan and against the state legislature, which wrote that plan into law.

The FAIR plan -- which the suburban school districts say is anything but fair -- intercepts Monroe County's sales tax revenue to pay the county's Medicaid Bill. It cuts the amount of money the suburban school districts were expecting from the county in half.

The county says its plan will hold property taxes stable, but the school districts say they'll either have to raise their tax rates to meet state spending mandates -- or make cutbacks in their services.

Siegle spoke together with West Irondequoit School Superintendent Jeff Crane, and Brockport Superintendent Jim Fallon. Both say their districts will lose hundreds of thousands of dollars this school year under the court decision -- and well over a million next school year. Fallon says Brockport has already stopped discretionary spending, cut back on supplies and probably won't replace staff when they retire.

Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks says the districts are losing about two percent of their budget, and should be able to handle that without much trouble. But both superintendents say it's not that easy.

Both say every 300-thousand dollars they lose equals one percentage point added to the school district's tax rate. And Crane says 2 percent of his budget is $1.2 million. Both say voters would reject raising school tax rates that high.

Meanwhile, Siegle says the state keeps adding new mandates that local schools have to fund but doesn't raise their state aid enough to keep pace.

All three say they'll push the court case all the way to the State Court of Appeals if necessary in an effort to overturn the FAIR plan.